Need for Speed Shift UK Preview

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EA's ailing franchise makes a seismic shift.

By Martin Robinson

The Need for Speed franchise has been showing its age of late, displaying signs of senility as it erratically shifts genres and suffers multiple personality disorders. One year we're served an open world pursuit-based game, the next the action's confined to circuit racing, and every year the series gets further away from its initial position as the premier driving series. So how do you go about curing such an identity crisis? EA's answer is a little eccentric – you give each different strand its own game.

Bizarrely, from the initial evidence it's an approach that seems to have worked. EA is releasing four separate entries into the series this year alone and the first to break cover is Need for Speed Shift, the simulation-minded offshoot that's coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Already it's looking like a remarkably assured effort, a game that can confidently pit itself against the likes of GRID and Project Gotham Racing in the race for virtual pole position.

Shift is one seriously pretty game.

Developers Slightly Mad Studios bring with them an in-depth understanding of realistic racing from its work on PC and in doing so removes some of the urban baggage that's bogged down recent Need for Speed games. The result is a game that seems set in the mould established by Codemasters's GRID, with the arcade heritage of Need for Speed offset handsomely by a consideration for real-life motorsport.

This new focus is reflected in the game's vehicle roster, still informed by the petrol-soaked dreams of Max Power readers but now presented with a new found verity. Six vehicles were to hand, with a Lotus Elise 111R, Shelby Terelingua and Audi RS4 pulled from the game's lower tier while a Corvette Z06, Porsche 911 GT2 and a Pagani Zonda F representing some of the meatier vehicles available. Across all the vehicles the handling's a neat mesh of arcade and simulation; Brands Hatch was one of the two courses on display and it's opening corner, Paddock Hill bend, is a viciously dipping right hander that can be taken flat chat in each of the cars we drove, a method that would result in an intimate encounter with the tyre wall if attempted in a game such as Race Pro. Nevertheless, there's a satisfying weight to each of the cars and the handling model still proves demanding when placed in relief with Need for Speed's typical approach, ensuring that the game feels superficially similar to GRID.

What's most impressive is that Need for Speed Shift's got the looks to match – if not better – the visually outstanding GRID. Using an engine that's a slight variation on the one that powered the studio's mysterious Ferrari project (and unfortunately Slightly Mad Studios weren't forthcoming on how Shift affects that particular title), it's got a gratifyingly muscular aesthetic, as well as a frame rate that never faltered throughout our extensive spell behind the wheel. Brands Hatch looked fine enough, although it's understandably hard to inject pizzazz into the droll suburban Kent landscape. The London street circuit is a much more spectacular backdrop, a fictional tour that takes in the Embankment and a squirt across Waterloo Bridge that shows off some dazzling lighting effects as the sunset drips an orange hue on the tarmac.

It's from the cockpit that the game really shines, however, with Slightly Mad Studios conjuring one of the most visceral sensations of speed we've witnessed in a game. Stick the throttle to the floor and the din of the engine becomes overbearing, all manner of post-processing effects creating an intimidating roar. The depth of field shifts as the car reaches top speed, the camera subtly moving back to mimic the driver's head being forced back by the velocity, and the hands on the in-game wheel visibly tighten - it's enough to rapidly accelerate your heart-rate.

Other views are available, but the in-car one's clearly the best.

This effect is extended to the crashes - should you have a collision the camera shakes violently with the impact, the screen blurs and in the aftermath it's possible to hear the driver's pounding heart. The result is dizzying, with the effect intended to instil a true fear of crashing - and it's a trick that really pays off. Tie in the aforementioned audio assault and some particularly violent force feedback and Need for Speed Shift makes for a truly sensational drive.

With the basics nailed it'll be interesting to see how the impressive driving model is delivered in the final game. Details on single-player, multiplayer or indeed anything beyond the hands-on weren't forthcoming, but if the imagination that's displayed on the track is matched off of it the game could be a standout package. With the likes of Forza 3, Gran Turismo 5 and Codemasters's Formula 1 game waiting in the wings, it's going to be a busy year for the racing genre – and Need for Speed Shift certainly has the credentials to hold its own in such esteemed company.